Mass Matrix Models: The Sequel

Abstract

The smallness of the quark sector parameters and the hierarchy between them could be the result of a horizontal symmetry broken by a small parameter. Such an explicitly broken symmetry can arise from an exact symmetry which is spontaneously broken. Constraints on the scales of new physics arise {}from new flavor changing interactions and {}from Landau poles, but do not exclude the possibility of observable signatures at the TeV scale. Such a horizontal symmetry could also lead to many interesting results: (i) quark -- squark alignment that would suppress, without squark degeneracy, flavor changing neutral currents induced by supersymmetric particles, (ii) exact relations between mass ratios and mixing angles, (iii) a solution of the $\mu$-problem and (iv) a natural mechanism for obtaining hierarchy among various symmetry breaking scales.